Past Projects (Highlights):

Roxio PhotoShow

Roxio PhotoShow is a consumer multi-media authoring tool that lets anyone easily make an entertaining slide show out of their photos and video clips. Hundreds of templates, pieces of clipart, and music tracks are included to give the user a head start.

The output is flash-based, for easy online sharing though email, social media sites or PhotoShow.com. The system can also transcode slide shows to actual video for burning to DVD, exporting to ipods, or even publishing to a cable TV network (see below).

There are both desktop and online versions of the product that share the same core application/UI layer (which is written in Flash).

PhotoShow TV involved a partnership between Simplestar (now part of
Roxio) and Time Warner Cable to bring consumer PhotoShows to a live
cable TV network.

The
system works like a community bulletin board where users can post their
slide shows to a common video on demand channel that everyone in their
area can watch. Slide shows are monitored and approved before
publishing, though the turn-around time is only a matter of days.

Photoshow
TV initially rolled out in Hawaii and was followed by deployments in
Staten Island and upstate New York. It has now been deployed to many
municipalities throughout the country and is available in over 1
million homes.

Below is a TV comercial Time Warner ran in Staten Island, NY to advertise the new service.

And here is a video of the intended user experience (the user
experience in actual deployments may differ from region to region).

PhotoShow 5

PhotoShow 5 was the last in a series of desktop photo suites that were the flagship products of Simplestar. Millions of copies were distributed through branded partners such as Nero, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Walgreens.

The software included a variety of photo management and editing features as well as mutli-media authoring functionality focused on the creation and sharing of PhotoShows. It was also one of the first suites to support the integration of video clips into organization, slide shows, and online sharing.

The desktop software was accompanied by an online sharing website to host users' PhotoShows (now known as PhotoShow.com).

PhotoShow DVD Service

The PhotoShow DVD service enabled consumers to create and enjoy custom DVDs of their slide shows for mail-order delivery. Users could order a DVD directly from the desktop software, or online by clicking on a custom advertisement next to any existing PhotoShow.

The DVDs shipped with themed packaging that the user could customize in the online ordering process and were especially popular as gifts.

The fulfillment portion of the service used specialized workflow software to manage the manufacture of my thousands of DVDs a day during peak seasons. Kodak Easy Share Gallery licensed the system to offer PhotoShow DVDs to their customers for several years.

PhotoShow 2

PhotoShow 2 was the first version of the PhotoShow product line to become popular. It's focus was purely on slide show creation and sharing. Notable features included animated clipart, unique transitions, and Flash-based online sharing.

The product was widely distributed on the Kodak Picture CD (delivered w/ digital prints) for several years.

My Mix

My Mix was a mix cd creator that would burn multiple mp3 songs together as a single seemless audio cd. Users could choose from a variety of specialized audio effects to transition between songs.

EZ DJ

EZ-DJ was an entertainment/music mixing application that allowed users to mix their mp3's together in realtime with an innovative 3d interface. A variety of sample triggers and effects were included to enable users to manipulate the sound of the mix.

The system ran online and as an application on the desktop. Mixes could be exported to a continuous audio file or burned to DVD.

Groove Blender

Groove blender is a graphical music creation tool that utilizes a
building block metaphor to allow users build simple compositions much
like they might assemble a set of Legos.

Each block represents a 1 bar loop of a single instrument musical
sample. Sample types are color coded. Any blocks on the canvas play;
blocks that are connected together horizontally play in sequence.

Pete developed Groove Blender at Shockwave.com where it was sponsored
by Intel Corp among other companies. It can still be played here. (Requires an older plugin extension which may not work on non windows system).

DJ Fu - Wax Attack

DJ Fu is a music-mixing online video game that Pete developed at Shockwave.com with co-creator Chad Richard in 2000.

The game is a 'Mario-style' platform game where the main character (DJ
Fu) hunts for his lost record collection and battles 'sketchy' bad guys
who some times dress as elvis impersonators. Along the way, Fu must
match colored records with similarly colored record players to control
the sound track to the game - essentially remixing the music as he goes
along.

Two editions of DJ Fu were developed and the game earned mutiple six
figure sponsorships from Ford Motor Co. as part of it's youth oriented
'Focus' online ad campaign.

You can still play the game here at shockwave, though it requires an older plug-in extension that may not be available on non-windows systems.

Stretchable Music

Stretchable Music was the subject Pete's master's thesis at the Media
Lab in 1998. Conceived as an interactive music 'composition',
'stretchables' (as it was then known) strove to combine
visual/interactive metaphors from video games with a simple music
composition that could be morphed, explored and/or interpreted by an
unskilled user.

Distinct musical elements of the piece were represented on screen as
stylized graphical 'objects' that enabled unique tonal and timbral
control when they were 'grabbed', 'poked', or 'stretched' with a mouse.

Later the system was combined w/ a projector and a laser range finder
tracking system (built by Josh Strickon) and shown at SIGGRAPH in
Orlando in 1998). (See Pete using the combined system below).

The Brain Opera

The Brain Opera was a large scale interactive music installation and
performance designed by Tod Machover that premiered at Lincoln Center
in 1996.

The installation consisted of over 20 interactive music stations
deployed in an arcade-like fashion for audience participation before
the show. A 30 minute stage performance followed which combined many of
the same sounds and instruments with 3 skilled performers and linearly
arranged piece of music.

Pete played the role of lead developer for the software that ran many
of the interactive instruments including the stage performance system.

Developed at the MIT Media Lab in 1995, the Penn &
Teller Sensor Chair was a new type of gesture based music instrument
created for a musical collaboration between magicians Penn & Teller
and composer Tod Machover.

The interface worked a bit like a Theremin where a performer 'played'
the instrument by gesturing with their hands in the rectangular space
defined by 4 sensors in front of the chair (attached to the 2 poles in
the photo).

Pete worked on the musical software for the system that translated
gestures into sounds. Joe Paradiso (pictured) designed the sensing
hardware while Eran Ergozy (cofounder of Harmonix)
designed the overall software architecture. Tod Machover spearheaded
the project's vision, experience design, and musical composition.